Open Science Challenge Series - Promotes Research Amongst Students
Scientist
on
October 9, 2012
The Make Your Mark competition, part of Scientist’s Open Science Challenge series, is now officially live in San Diego, New York, and Boston. Scientist strongly believes that the way of the future is in scientific research and technology, and the best way to encourage that is in high school, when students begin considering what they want to do in the future. Young scientists are capable of great things if they put their mind to it, as recently seen by 15 year old, Jack Andraka, who created a cheap, early-detection test for pancreatic cancer.1
The $500 prizes allow students to test new ideas, get hands on experience on trying an assay, or take a science fair experiment to the next level. We hope to see students in these three starter cities take advantage of the program and make their mark on science.
Read our press release below:
Scientist Inc., the world’s leading provider of outsourced scientific services, today announced the launch of the “Make Your Mark” competition for high school students. Created to inspire young people to get involved in science, the Make Your Mark Competition is part of Scientist’s ongoing series of Open Science Challenges. Proposals are being solicited from individual students, IGEM or STEM science teams or science teachers who have a good idea and want to test it. Winning proposals receive $500 for the project.
“The Open Science movement is about democratizing science and enabling anyone with a good idea to translate that idea into reality,” said Kevin Lustig, Scientist’s CEO. “The current research process is broken, with projects taking years to complete. By leveraging outsourcing and Scientist’s free software to accelerate science far beyond its current pace, even high school researchers can now do experiments and run entire science projects without needing any laboratory space of their own.”
Make Your Mark competitions are being held in numerous cities across the United States. The first competitions will be held in Boston (September 17 - October 19), San Diego and New York (October 1 – November 5). Possible proposal topics include science demonstrations, bioart creation or school-based science projects, or the proposal may just be about experimentation for curiosity’s sake.
“The Make Your Mark competition is a great way to empower the next generation of citizen and professional scientists,” said Joseph Jackson, founder of Biocurious, one of the country’s first community DIY-Biology laboratories. “Young people of all backgrounds need to understand that science has changed and that they can make a difference right now.”
Applicants submit a 1-page written proposal, a 5-minute video or a 5-slide presentation that explains their hypothesis and research plan. The first awards will be made in November 2012.